Obsolete: The Ballad of Ironman
by Watery-the-Strange
Summary: Six years have passed, and all of Netto's achievements are overshadowed in the face of a new technology, the JET-Tech. But one vindictive NetNavi with a will of iron refuses to be erased. Can Rockman stop the growing rebellion and save the NetNavi's?
1. Chapter 1

**DISLCAIMER: Okay, this time I actually have a good reason for throwing in a disclaimer, so please excuse me for a moment while I legally cover my sorry hide. First and foremost, I do not own Mega-Man NT Warrior. I also don't own the mini-skirt comment--so if you're a Roy Mustang from FMA fan, please don't gouge my eyes out. I just thought I'd throw it in since I saw the YouTube video and I thought it was funny. I also don't own the song Ironman by Black Sabbath--no, I this isn't a song-fic, but one of my characters is HEAVILY based on the song. **

**A/N: There are pairings in this, but it will mainly be Rockman (Mega-Man) and Roll. However, it is heavily hinted that Meiru and Netto have become very close. Just how close hasn't been decided, and anyway this is more of an adventure angst fic. It was inspired by my basic observations about how people are constantly scrambling to get their hands over the latest gadgets and treating them like fashion accessories, and replacing them every year or so. And then after spying a NT warrior clip on YouTube, I had a happy nostalgia moment and thought to myself, "Huh...I wonder what would happen to the Mega-Man world if the NetNavi's became obsolete." And so the story began.**

**Read and Review.**

* * *

Prologue:

Today was April 17th, and it was Hiroshi's twelfth birthday. The day had started off well—it was a crisp blue sky smiling overhead, and there wasn't even a hint of snow. There had been a freak blizzard in the late March that dampened his spirits a bit, but it wasn't long before the snow had started to melt, and the warm spring rain washed the rest of it away.

He smirked to himself as he sauntered into the kitchen for breakfast. Sure enough, he managed to capture that faint aroma of a home-made cake—chocolate raspberry, his personal favorite—baking in the oven. He was wearing his favorite shirt—the green one with the blue and red vertical stripe. Nothing could possibly go wrong today.

"Mom," Hiroshi yelled towards the door. "What time is everyone coming over?"

"Well, I know your cousin said he'd drop by around noon, but your friends probably won't get here until one thirty-ish," a woman's voice echoed out of the upstairs bathroom. There was the sound of a toilet flushing, and then the sink running as she watched her hands. Within a minute the door opened, and a plump middle-aged woman made her way down the stairs and strode into the kitchen.

Before she could so much as take two steps towards the cutting board, however, Hiroshi grabbed the cuff of her sleeve.

"You're sure Netto-kun said he'd come, mom?"

The woman smiled, albeit a bit confused. "I wasn't aware that you were so fond of your cousin, Hiroshi."

"I'm not," he replied frankly. "But if he comes, he's bound to bring Meiru-chan…" a blush rose unabashedly to his freckled cheeks. He grinned like a Cheshire cat. "She's dead sexy in a mini-skirt."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," his mother replied. "Now if you excuse me, I have a cake that needs rescuing…unless you'd prefer to eat charcoal."

Hiroshi immediately let go of his mother and went to sit down at the kitchen table. With nothing better to do, he watched his mother bustling around with the cake. He closed his eyes and breathed in the smell, savoring the moment.

The hours didn't pass any more eventfully until Yuichi knocked at the door. Hiroshi jumped out of his chair as though it had burned him and pelted towards the foyer. Pulling open the door, the two friends regarded each other.

Yuichi was taller than Hiroshi by a couple of inches, and had a head full of wiry, unruly black hair. A trendy pair of glasses rested on the bridge of his nose, drawing attention to his aqua-colored eyes. He was dressed casually in a blue t-shirt, a grey short-sleeved shirt over it and left unbuttoned, and a pair of jeans with a gnarly grass stain over the left knee. It contrasted to his sneakers, which were brand new and recently appeared in an advertisement on television.

"Ohaiyo, Hiro-kun," Yuichi chimed, tossing a gift-wrapped package at him. Hiroshi caught it clumsily, staring blankly at it before coming to a realization.

"A present?"

"No, it's porn. What do you think it is, dinkus?" Yuichi sounded amused, shaking his head remorsefully at his friend. "Happy Birthday, by the way."

"Thanks," said Hiroshi, eying the present in his hands with obvious interest. "But seriously, what is it?"

"Only the coolest thing on the market," he replied vaguely. Considering all of the new fads that had recently appeared, however, there was one that stood out above all others. Yuichi glanced at Hiroshi and realized that his curiosity was getting the better of him again.

Smiling ruefully at him, he said, "Go ahead and open it before you start drooling. Don't worry, I won't rat you out to your mom."

Hiroshi grinned. "You know me way too well, man."

"That I do. Now open it already."

He didn't need telling a third time. Hiroshi eagerly tore into the package, sending golden bits of confetti wrapping paper flying, clumps of it trapped in his fists. His eyes widened.

"Baka…" he murmured, looking happier than he felt when he got his first NetNavi PET for Christmas three years back. He lifted his gaze away from the brightly colored box and back up to Yuichi, who was looking as cool as a glacier. "You didn't…!"

"What do you take me for?" he replied with a satisfied smirk.

"But, Yuichi! This is a friggin' JET-TECH!" He held the box in his trembling hands, unable to hide his mirth. "Do you know how expensive these are???"

"Only the best for my bud," said Yuichi. "Besides, I owed you big time after that time Yamezeki-sensei almost caught me hacking into the online grading system. I could have gotten expelled."

Hiroshi blushed. "It was nothing." But then, something occurred to him. "Ironman…" he said quietly, slapping a hand to his forehead.

"What about him?"

"Well, what am I supposed to do with him now that I have a JET?" he asked, taking out the purple PET resting in a pouch on his belt. "Is there any way I can transfer his data onto it?"

Yuichi frowned. "I don't see why it matters. It's just data. It's not like he's real or anything. Just shut him down or something."

Hiroshi paused. He didn't like the idea of simply deleting a friend who had stood by him for three years, even if all he consisted of was data. "I don't know…" he said softly. "We've been a team for three years."

"Look," Yuichi reasoned. "There's no way you can upgrade him since he's already as good as a plain old NetNavi is going to get. Maybe if you had an older version of the Jet you'd be able to transfer his data, but they don't sell those anymore. And the 2.0 version is completely incompatible with the NetNavi."

Hiroshi looked torn. The Jet was pretty tempting. It was tinted silver with black accents. Not to mention how versatile the system was…

"But what should I tell Ironman?" he asked finally, unable to resist any longer.

Yuichi sighed. "You don't have to tell it anything. It's just data. I already told you that."

"But…"

"Look, if you want I'll delete him for you. It's no big deal."

But it was a big deal—at least, to Hiroshi .

He didn't realize that his NetNavi PET wasn't in sleep mode like he thought, and that Ironman was currently listening to their conversation. The mauve-armored warrior was trying to resist the urge to simply leave for one of the inter-cities. But no…Hiroshi wouldn't do that to him. Their friendship meant more than a flashy new toy.

"All…all right…" Hiroshi said in resignation.

Ironman's violent pupils contracted in shock. Not wasting another nanosecond, he teleported away from his PET. He wouldn't even bother trying to dissuade the impressionable boy from destroying his hard-drive.

There was nothing to say. Hiroshi had made his decision and now he would have to live with it.

* * *

Ten or fifteen minutes later, the two were sitting in Hiroshi's bedroom. Yuichi sat at the desk fiddling around with the PET while Hiroshi thumbed through the owner's manual of the JET. Yes, he is one of the losers who actually reads the computer manual.

"Hey, where is he?" Yuichi suddenly complained, pushing the buttons of the NetNavi and looking irritated. "Hiro, he isn't in here."

This certainly surprised Hiroshi. "Wait, what?" he blurted. He quickly racked his mind and knew that Ironman had no reason to leave, nor did he have any errands to run. There was no way he could not be there. "Of course he's there," he told Yuichi. "Check again."

"I'm telling you," Yuichi protested, shoving the Navi into his hands. "Take a look for yourself."

Hiroshi typed in a few buttons and frowned. Ironman had left. That was odd.

"I can't delete his data if he's in someone else's PET," Yuichi pointed out. This made Hiroshi feel a little better.

"Maybe I won't have to delete him at all. I mean, why can't I have both a NetNavi and a JET?"

"You'd be the laughing stock of the school, that's why. It's like having two cell phones because you got attached to the old one. Face it, Ironman is obsolete."

"What about Ironman?" came a voice from the doorway.

Hiroshi looked up and sucked in his breath. "Netto-kun!"

Standing in the doorway was Hiroshi's seventeen year old cousin, Hikari Netto. His spiky brown hair was as unruly as ever, and his forehead was still completely hidden behind the light blue headband. However, he had grown over the past six years, and his chocolate brown eyes shone with a new maturity.

Despite their differences in personality, Hiroshi couldn't help but be a bit proud of his older cousin. Netto had certainly made a name for himself—having saved the Net multiple times with his NetNavi, Rockman, it wasn't surprising that he was practically a celebrity.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, Netto's ego had no time to inflate past the point that had been deemed acceptable by society. Because barely a year after he had returned from Beyondard, the JET-Tech had entered the market. Within months, everything having to do with NetNavis were almost a distant memory.

Netto was particularly bitter about the whole thing, but Hiroshi had always assumed that it was because his cousin had been denied the fame and notoriety that he felt he deserved. It was one of the reasons why he didn't like him all that much. The fact that Netto stubbornly held onto Rockman for all these years made him almost glad that he had gotten a JET for his birthday.

But then, if Ironman was anywhere near as strong as Rockman, he wouldn't even look at a JET-Tech, no matter how flashy it was.

"Hey, Hiroshi. Happy birthday," said Netto, smiling at him. "Aunt Momo said I could come up."

"Did you bring Meiru-chan with you?" Hiroshi asked, trying to sound innocent. Ironman had instantly been forgotten. Netto inwardly face-palmed.

"It figures," he sighed. "I was wondering why you were so desperate for me to come over today. As a matter of fact, she's downstairs."

"Great!" Hiroshi exclaimed, scrambling off of his bed. "I'll go down and say hello."

Netto put a hand on his shoulder. "You know, she really didn't want to be here today. She's been having some problems lately, so I don't want you pestering her too much, okay, Hiro?"

"You're just worried that she'll realize what a stud I am."

"You're barely twelve years old, and already you're claiming to be a man-whore…" Netto sighed. "I didn't even start liking girls until I was fourteen…"

"…Thus ending everyone's speculations about your sexual orientation," Hiroshi replied, clipping his cousin on shoulder. "Kindly move out of the way. Meiru-chan is waiting for me."

"Dammit, Hiro," Yuichi grumbled, slamming the Navi back on the desk. "I thought you wanted me to set up your JET for you!"

"I do," Hiroshi assured him. "But you know how rude it is to keep a beautiful woman waiting."

"Wait a minute," Netto interjected, frowning at them both. "Since when do you own a JET-Tech?"

"Since half an hour ago," Yuichi told him in an as-a-matter-of-factly tone of voice. "It was my present to him."

The older boy was silent for a moment. "Didn't you say something about Ironman when I came in before?" he asked after a long pause.

"Yeah," Hiroshi said, his smile dropping from his face like a dead weight. "I can't find him anywhere. He won't respond to my calls or anything…I just…" the boy fumbled with his words. He didn't want to admit to his cousin that he had seriously considered deleting Ironman; and he especially didn't want to admit it in front of Rockman, who he admired even more than his cousin. _He_ wasn't just data, that's for sure.

"Netto," said a voice from the pouch hanging at the teenager's hip. Netto pulled out his NetNavi and pushed the button. Rockman's face instantly materialized in front of them. "Should I go look for Ironman?"

"I think that's a good idea," Netto replied.

"Wait!" Hiroshi blurted, turning red. "You can't…!"

Rockman looked over at the young boy, noting the hesitation and worry in his voice. "What's wrong, Hiro-kun?"

The boy couldn't even look at Rockman. He felt ashamed of himself. "I…I think he might have heard me talking to Yuichi about the JET-Tech," he explained in a low voice. He took a deep breath before adding, "I think he heard us talking about…deleting him."

Rockman frowned, his eyes looking sad and disappointed. "I see…" the NetNavi said after a long time. "That's too bad. A lot of people are deleting their NetNavis because they're considered to be obsolete…they don't realize that they're erasing good friends and allies."

"It's disgusting," Netto spat, angry at Hiroshi. "I can't believe you would say something like that in front of your NetNavi! What, do you think that Ironman doesn't have any feelings?"

Yuichi looked uncomfortable. "It's just data…" he mumbled, this time uncertainly. Rockman turned his gaze towards him.

"Yuichi-san, how would you feel if someone you cared about had replaced you for someone else just because you weren't popular?"

The boy flushed and fell silent.

"I think the best thing to do would be to find Ironman and tell him that it was all just a misunderstanding," Rockman told Hiroshi. "He might not want to come back right away. I wouldn't be so eager myself if my Net Operator had been hinting that they wanted delete me."

Hiroshi looked miserable. "What if he never comes back?"

"What does it matter?" Netto snapped. "You have your JET-Tech. That should be enough for you."

"Netto…" said Rockman sternly. "Don't you think you're being cruel?" Then, in a quieter voice, he added, "Hiroshi still has a lot of growing to do. Remember what you were like at his age?"

"I would never have deleted you, though!" Netto whispered back harshly. "You're my best friend. Friends don't do that to each other!"

Rockman smiled at Netto. "Sometimes it takes something like this to remind us just who our real friends really are. Hiroshi's really upset, you know."

Netto was quiet for a long time.

"Netto, please…" said Hiroshi, his eyes looking glassy.

His cousin considered it a moment longer before reaching a decision.

"Fine. I'll send Rockman to look for Ironman," he grumbled. He turned his gaze to Rockman again. "But if he doesn't want to come back, we're not going to force him. He has every right to be pissed off, you know."

"Yeah," Rockman sighed. "I know."

"Get going then. I'm hoping you'll be back in time for some cake."

Rockman sweatdropped. "Thanks. You know I just love cake."

"Cake?" Yuichi echoed, surprised. "NetNavi's can eat?"

"He's being sarcastic," Hiroshi told him flatly.

"How do they program a NetNavi to be sarcastic? Or to have any emotions in general?" Yuichi asked, not letting the matter drop. "I always assumed that the NetNavi were designed to mirror the personality of their operator, but…well, I can see some obvious differences between Netto and Rockman. And now that I think about it, Ironman always had a stronger will than you do…"

"People change, you know," Hiroshi pointed out.

"True."

Rockman felt uncomfortable. They were talking about him as though he were a show-dog or something. Needless to say, it really irritated Netto.

"You know, it's not too late for me to change my mind," he said pointedly. The two boys quickly shut up. Rockman, realizing that no one was going to break this awkward silence, spoke up.

"I…guess I should…"

He was interrupted by a shrill cry from downstairs. There was the ominous thud of something falling to the floor followed by a faint muffled noise that sounded suspiciously like…

"Meiru!" Netto and Rockman said in tandem. Not wasting another second, Netto grabbed his NetNavi and bolted from the room. Hiroshi only hesitated for a moment before he grabbed Yuichi by the arm and pulled him along after his cousin.

Within seconds they were in the living room. Meiru was hunched over her NetNavi, her hands trembling as she stared wide-eyed into the screen.

"Roll-chan! Speak to me! Please…!" she urged her NetNavi, clutching the device as though she were trying to crush it in her grasp. "Roll-chan!"

"Meiru-chan! What's wrong?"

She looked up at Netto. "It's Roll. She came back all of a sudden, but she won't talk to me…she's hurt, but she won't tell me what happened, she…I…"

Rockman instantly vanished from Netto's home screen and went to check on Roll. A moment later they could hear his voice from Meiru's NetNavi device, trying to coax Roll to speak.

Hiroshi took that opportunity to get a good look at Meiru. Over the past couple of years she had taken to the notion of growing her crimson hair long. At this point it hung down to her shoulder blades, and the layered trim every month or so ensured so that her spiky bangs nicely shaped her face, which had lost some of its old baby fat. Meiru had abandoned most of her child-like appearance and traded it in for a more womanly figure—and while she wasn't so endowed in the chest area, her long legs and slender torso made up for it and more.

"I don't know what's wrong…" she murmured, angrily blinking back tears. Netto immediately sat down next to her on the sofa, taking her hand and giving it a hearty squeeze.

"Don't cry," he told her sincerely. "My dad still has all that old technology to fix NetNavi's, remember? We can fix Roll easily."

"You haven't seen her, she's…she's really confused…"

Netto frowned before he turned to look down at her PET. "Rockman, has Roll said anything to you?"

Rockkman looked up at Netto, shaking his head. "I'm going to try to talk to Roll alone. I'll let you know if something comes up."

Before anyone could reply, the screen went blank. Rockman and Roll had descended into sleep mode so that they couldn't be overheard. Whatever happened now depended entirely on the two Navis. Needless to say, the thought certainly made Yuichi shift nervously in his seat.

"Just leave it to Rockman," Netto told Meiru confidently. "He'll help Roll. I know he will."

* * *

Rockman turned away from the blank screen and looked down at his battle partner. Roll had slumped down into a kneeling position, unable to hold her own weight any longer. Her costume was torn in the shoulder, and Rockman could see deep scratches running along her collar bone. Her arm hung at an odd angle, and the male NetNavi got a nasty feeling that it had been broken. Roll held it close to her, trembling in fear that something else would attack. Her green eyes were blankly staring ahead of her.

Kneeling down beside her, Rock tentatively laid a hand on the shoulder that wasn't injured. Roll flinched and tried to lurch him off.

"Don't…!" she gasped, her wild gaze flickering to him fearfully.

"Roll, it's me," said Rockman, controlling his tone so that he sounded calm. But even he had been freaked out by her alarming condition. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to compose himself before speaking again. "It's Rockman," he tried again, "I'm not going to hurt you…"

Roll didn't move, but her face had scrunched up as if she was trying very hard not to cry. "R-Rock…" she hiccupped, shutting her eyes.

The frown seemed carved on his face. Cautiously, he reached around her waist and scooped her up into his arms. He felt her stiffen at his touch, but after a minute she relaxed her shoulder muscles and timidly looked up into his face.

Rockman couldn't even say anything for a second. Roll wasn't acting like herself at all—she was jumpy and frightened. The sight made his stomach turn over.

"What happened?" he asked her in a low voice.

Roll shook her head, struggling to regain control over herself. Swallowing the lump in the back of her throat, she whispered, "I…I don't know…"

"You do know. Try to remember. What happened to you?"

The pink warrior shut her eyes again. "I can't…it all happened so fast, I…I can't believe that I didn't get deleted…"

It was very clear how close she had come to the point of no return. Data was starting to spill out of her cuts, but the flow wasn't so intense that she was in immediate danger.

"Seven files have been lost," Roll murmured, eyes fluttering as she struggled to recover the missing data. "Oh, no…" she groaned. "Meiru's essay! She…she worked so hard on it, Rock…"

Rockman's face softened, but he didn't back down. He couldn't. "Who did this?" he pressed.

"I can't remember…!" she snarled. Rockman recoiled in shock.

"Okay, okay," he said hastily. "It's okay...! Just tell me what you know. What do you remember?"

Roll sniffed, wiping the stray tear away from her cheek. Her eyes quickly resumed the determined scowl that Rockman knew very well. "Don't baby me so much," she said with too much of an edge to her voice to be sincere. "I'm fine." She took a deep breath for composure. "I remember that I had to run an errand for Meiru…"

* * *

And so the story begins.

**A/N: There. Basic introduction of characters. I introduced two major OC's in this chapter and one minor OC. Hiroshi and Ironman will be heavily tied in with the plot while Yuichi will only show up occassionally where his cold logic could potentially come in handy. I think out of all three of them, Ironman will be the most important (and he only has a paragraph from his own perspective...oops!).**

**Yeah, I know Roll seems to be flying off the handle a lot. I tried to have her come off as trying to appear tough for toughness's sake. The whole point is that she almost got deleted, and Rockman is determined to find out why. Oh, and I hope the fluff wasn't too strong this early on. **

**Okay, that's all for now. I hope you liked, so go review already. Later.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I'm not going to repeat myself. Instead, I have brought out a familiar face to do it for me. --Pulls out megaphone-- BLUES! YOU'RE ON!!!**

**--Blues appears off left holding a set of cue cards; he seems surprised-- WHAT? Why me? You said I wouldn't have to do it this time!**

**Me: Well, yeah, I did...but then Rockman got this great idea that we should draw straws for it. You know the rule, the shortest straw gets the job.**

**Blues: I didn't even DRAW a straw, Watery...**

**Me: --Cheerfully-- Exactly!**

**Blues: I'll get you for this. I don't know when or where or how...but I WILL find a way.**

**Me: Aw, that's sweet of you, Blues. And to think you aren't even in the story yet. --Wrinkles nose in thought-- Actually, that's kind of surprising. You are pretty hunking awesome, Blues. Maybe I should reconsider this.**

**Blues: --sweatdrops-- Yeah, I'm just going to go commit seppuku with my hero sword over here in the corner. I'll try not to get too much blood on the walls.**

**Me: NOT UNTIL YOU DO THE DISCLAIMER!**

**Blues: Watery-the-Strange does not own Rockman Exe in any way, shape or form. Ratings would plummet if she did. **

**Me: Blues, by the time I'm through with you, you won't need to commit seppuku. Your innards will already be neatly sliced open for your personal convenience.**

* * *

Chapter Two:

New Net City had changed a lot over the past six years. However, that did not stop the nostalgia Roll felt as she logged on and looked up at the crisp blue sky surrounding the towering buildings. How many times had she looked up at the clouds with her friends as they laughed and enjoyed each other's company without a care in the world…?

Well, okay, even Roll had to admit that Rockman had his hands full with protecting the Net all the time. But considering the way things were now, she would have gladly have taken all of those old burdens back on her old shoulders if she could exchange them for the one that she struggled with now: the burden of living in a world she couldn't keep up with.

At least she knew now that those old problems could be overcome. As for her current situation…well, there was nothing she could do about it. It made her feel helpless.

It was even worse than those times Rockman would try to keep her from fighting, telling her that she would only get herself injured or worse: deleted. At least then she could still consider herself an equal among other NetNavi's, even if _some_ of them happened to be sexist. At least then she was allowed to exist.

As Roll started to walk down the sidewalk, she instinctively tucked her elbows into her sides, keeping her gaze lowered to the ground. She could feel the heavy stares of the JET-Techs lining the streets, boring into her armor and willing the pink-accented has-been to delete herself right before their eyes. Roll swallowed the lump in her throat and her heart clenched nervously in her chest.

It was _always_ like this now; not just with her, but with all of the NetNavi's who dared to show their face in public.

Roll looked around, trying to remember where the library was. Ever since the JET's had taken over things, a lot of the buildings had been rearranged—"upgraded," they called it—in a way that made sense to their advanced circuits, but confused the hell out of the NetNavi's. She crossed several streets and went down several blocks before she realized that she had been going in circles for fifteen minutes. All of the buildings looked the same now.

"Hey, watch where you're going, PET!" a particularly large JET snarled as he rammed forcefully into her, sending her staggering backwards. "There's no room in the street for fodder like you."

Roll opened her mouth to argue, but one glare from the stranger caused her to hastily shut it again. She had had more than her fair share of "lessons" about the dangers of provoking one of _them_. The JET glowered threateningly at her for another minute before moving off. The pink NetNavi watched him leave. Even his footsteps were efficient, fast-paced, and quiet.

She frowned as her thoughts returned to the issue of finding the library. Roll had to admit to herself that she was lost, but she really didn't want to have to ask one of the JET's for directions. In fact, she knew that if she said anything at all, they would either react condescendingly or, to Roll's extreme dread, hostilely. Not only were the JET's better equipped for doing the day-to-day tasks that kept the real world going at an efficient pace, but they were also much faster and stronger than the NetNavi's.

The worst part of it was that the JET's were more than aware of this gap in ability. That had given them every reason to force the Navi's out of their old lives and back into their PETs, the only place where they were truly safe from them. But that was no comfort since it only proved how obsolete the Navi's were; the JET's weren't even compatible with the PET system.

And now, the Navi's numbers were quickly dwindling. Left and right, humans were erasing their old, useless companions and exchanged them for these…things. Roll forced back the familiar ache of longing as she thought of poor Numberman, who had been reluctantly dumped permanently in New Net City about four months after the JET came out. Higure and Shuuko really hated the idea of giving up their Navi's, but they had no choice—at least, Higure didn't if he wanted to stay in business. However, he still carries around Numberman's PET, just in case he needs to come home for a while.

Shuuko, when asked to do the same thing to her own Navi, had quit her job on the spot and had found herself a position in a bakery on the other side of town.

Roll hardly ever saw Aquaman anymore unless she came to visit him herself. Shuuko had become worried about what would happen to her innocent little Navi in such a cruel place like New Net City had become. Even those visits were rare since all he would do whenever he saw her was cling to her. The last time she had almost drowned in his tears when she told him she had to get back to Meiru.

The only ones who still seemed able to compete with the JET's were those with a special program…and there were only three NetNavi's who could fit that bill: Forte (who was a self-centered jerk in Roll's opinion and quite literally a leech, if one could call feeding off of bugs leeching…), Blues (who had personally been given every unique upgrade that Enzan could pump into his system), and Rockman. Everyone else had practically vanished off the face of the Net.

Roll sighed as she admitted that she could never compete with Rockman even in the old days. But now it was like she was completely left behind in the dust. She had never felt so insignificant in her entire life.

However, it seemed as if her day was starting to look up. Standing in front of her was the New Net Library. Somehow, while she was wandering aimlessly, it had simply appeared.

Not that it would do her any good the next time they "upgraded" the city. Sighing quietly, Roll hastily pushed open the set of doors and entered the building.

Looking around, Roll saw that the interior core of the Library had been changed as well. Now the entire place gave off a gently pulsing green light instead of the soft blue, and there were several stations where one could log into the Library database and do research. Roll approached the nearest one and frowned.

"These are all made for JET outlets," she said quietly. "Now what should I do…?"

There were a number of other people there, most of them JET's—most of whom, to Roll's relief, were too engrossed in their tasks to notice her. However, there were a few Navi's here as well.

"Huh…I wonder how they log in."

A passing Navi paused as Roll murmured this question to herself. "Excuse me, Miss," she said, getting her attention. "Are you having some trouble?"

The pink NetNavi jumped. "I…did I say that out loud?"

The stranger smiled. Roll got a better look at her face—crisp blue eyes glinted cheerfully beneath the rounded black helmet on her head. Strands of blue hair descended down to her armored shoulders. The rest of her slender body was hugged by a black body-suit with teal accents. Her matching boots went up about mid-calf.

"I wouldn't worry so much about that," she said lightly. "You probably have a lot on your mind right now. Would you like some help?"

"Yes, thanks," Roll replied, smiling for the first time she entered New Net City. "By the way, I didn't get your name, Miss…?"

"Delfina," she told her. "But most people just call me Delfie."

"Thank you, Delfie-chan. I really appreciate your help," the pink NetNavi beamed. "My name is Roll."

Delfie hesitated for a moment, as though wondering how to handle this sudden warmth from the other girl. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she said after a pause. "Would you like me to show you how to access the database?"

Her smile became nervous as she took Roll by the hand and guided her over to one of the older outlets. Without saying a word, she logged on to the database.

Roll was surprised. "You can log on to a JET outlet?"

Delfie nodded. "What data do you need, Roll-san?" she asked softly. "I'll find whatever you need and download it to you."

"But how can you do that? You're not even one of _them_…"

The aqua-colored girl looked troubled. "I had been given enough upgrades by my master to complete the basic tasks that the older version of the JET's could do. Every month or so I needed a new program, but my owner insisted that I wouldn't become obsolete…until he realized how much less costly it was to simply buy a JET."

Roll didn't know what to say. "I…I'm so sorry…" She thought for an awkward moment before adding, "The same thing happened to a lot of my friends…"

Something flashed within those deep blue eyes. "I see…" she said quietly. For a couple of minutes Delfie seemed lost in thought, reflecting on how drastically the world has changed. It had been so completely altered that those two girls had no place in it anymore. "What subject should I be researching?"

Roll jumped. "Right, um…key words are Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Progress."

Delfie nodded before turning back to the outlet. Her fingers became a blur as she typed and rearranged data on the screen in front of her, her gaze so focused that there was something almost robotic about it. Roll waited patiently for her to finish.

This entire process took no more than fifteen minutes before Delfie turned away from the outlet.

"Roll-san," she said, "In order for me to transfer this data, I need access to your inner circuits."

"Can't I just have it transmitted to my PET?"

Delfie shook her head apologetically. "The JET programming isn't compatible with it. The best I can do is input the information into you so that you can bring it back to your Net-Op yourself. Is that okay?"

Roll didn't see much choice in the matter. Meiru needed to finish her essay.

"So you completed the research, Roll-chan?"

Rockman tried not to rush her along in her story, but more data was flowing out of her wounds. The progress was tantalizingly slow, and he could tell that Roll was in a lot of discomfort. He hoped that being in sleep mode would help her recover her hit points, but the fact of the matter was that she had taken too much damage for her to simply get better. She would need medical attention at some point, or she would be deleted.

"Y-yeah," she stammered, cradling her broken arm with her free one. "Meiru's been working really hard on this essay. It's worth twenty percent of her final grade in a required course. It was about…about…" she scrunched up her face as she attempted to call back the memory data on the subject. "How society's opinion of the ethics of artificial intelligence has evolved over time…"

Rockman nodded. "Go on," he urged her.

"It took me a long time to find the material Meiru needed. The Library's so advanced now that I could barely access the databanks. I wouldn't have been able to do it at all if Delfie-chan hadn't helped me…"

She saw the look on Rockman's face and mistook the cause of the harried expression he was wearing. "She was a Navi, Rock," she added hastily. "Like us."

"That's not…" he began, but sighed as he realized that this conversation wasn't going anywhere. "Never mind. Keep going."

Roll hesitated. "I…I can't remember too much about what happened in the Library, actually," she said, looking troubled. "But I think it went like this…"

Leaving the Library, Roll had a smile on her face. She had thanked Delfie profusely for her help and ducked out into the busy streets, not even caring that a couple of JET's were throwing her annoyed glances. She hummed cheerfully to herself as she hurried along back to Meiru—she could hardly wait to see the look on her face when she showed her the completed task.

Meiru didn't have enough money in her allowance to keep buying upgrades for Roll, so the NetNavi had to make do with what she had. Needless to say, it was much more difficult for her to do anything useful for her Net-Op lately, and the fact that she had actually gotten something done made her feel much better about the day.

But Roll couldn't help but wish that she hadn't even needed the help at all. Still, it was really refreshing to see a friendly face after such a long period of hostility from everyone she met. Even the NetNavi's were cautious of each other these days.

Continuing down on her path, Roll found herself passing through the park. This was the only place that hadn't been changed in New Net City, and she often found herself coming here when she was troubled or upset. Today, however, she had come because she knew that Meiru wouldn't be back from Netto's cousin's house for another couple of hours. Roll had time to kill, and she wanted to spend it here, where happiness remained untouched.

Roll sat down on a park bench and smiled serenely up at the sky. She could feel a nice breeze and closed her eyes in content.

That was when she heard the explosion.

Rockman went rigid. "What?! Are you sure?"

Roll nodded mutely.

The blue NetNavi had known that his and Netto's abilities as Net-Savers weren't needed as often as they used to be. But the fact that neither of them had even been informed about an explosion clearly said that they weren't even Net-Savers anymore. Somewhere along the line they had lost that status.

Inexplicably, that bothered him.

Rockman didn't know what he was supposed to do. He didn't know what the JET's were doing to address the situation, but he knew that he couldn't just sit there and do nothing. After he was sure that Roll would be okay, he was making a direct trip to New Net City.

"You got caught in the explosion, didn't you?" he said, looking down at her wounds again. Righteous anger filled him. If this was an accident, that was one thing. But if someone purposefully set off the explosion that came close to deleting one of his closest friends, Rockman would find him and personally bring him to justice.

"I…I can't remember too much…" said Roll, breaking into his thoughts. "But I don't think I was in the explosion. I just heard it from far away."

That was odd. "Then how did you get hurt?"

Roll grew very quiet. She closed her eyes, and Rockman knew that she was struggling to access her memory data banks. This made him wonder if she had seen something that her attacker wanted her to forget.

"There…was a fight…" she said after a long pause. "That was what was causing the explosions…there were dust clouds everywhere from the broken sidewalk, so I could barely see anyone…"

"So you didn't see who was involved?"

"They were JET's," Roll murmured. "There were three of them, I think…and one NetNavi…a dark grey one…" She hesitated as she opened her eyes. "The only thing I can remember is that by the time the smoke cleared, the JET's were completely torn apart, and data was spilling out of their bodies. But…I can't remember who killed them…"

Alarm bells went off in Rockman's mind. This grey Navi was starting to sound a lot like someone he knew. But he couldn't make assumptions. He had to be sure.

"This Navi, did he seem strange to you, Roll?"

Roll shivered. "He had me in a choke-hold…I couldn't breathe." She closed her eyes and tried to block out the sensations that the memory sent through her body. "I could feel myself dying…I…I was falling apart, but then I saw the look on his face."

There was a long pause. Rockman instinctively knew not to break it, to wait until she could find the words to articulate what happened.

"He was so frightened and upset. I don't know…I…he just dropped me and ran…"

"What specifically did he look like…? Do you remember any details?"

Roll frowned. "The only thing I can remember is the deep scar running across the bridge of his nose; that and his eyes. He had an intense gaze…like steel…or…"

"…iron?" Rockman finished. It had become immediately clear who had attacked Roll. He buried his forehead in the palm of his hand. Netto was not going to like this.

Meanwhile, the very same Hikari Netto had left in a rush with Meiru and Hiroshi in a tow. Yuichi hadn't wanted to come at first, but the thought of being left alone for several hours when he should be celebrating his best friend's birthday didn't appeal to him either. Reluctantly, he climbed into the back seat of Netto's sports car.

"Okay, here's the plan," said Hiroshi's cousin. "We're going to head back to my house and get the keys from Dad to his old lab. Then we'll drive over there, fix Roll, and then try to track down Ironman," he finished, glancing once at his abashed relative shrinking in his seat behind Meiru.

Yuichi, who was already possessive of Hiroshi as it was, did not appreciate Netto's demonstration of leadership in front of him. "How do we know that the building is still there? Net-Navi's are obsolete, so wouldn't they have torn that place down or something?"

For the first time in five minutes, Meiru spoke.

"No," she told him. "The city left it alone as a sign of respect toward Netto and all of the things he did to protect the Net while he was a Net-Saver." She smiled bitterly. "Pretty lousy way to thank the guy who saved the world a handful of times. The place is starting to get run-down, even with Dr. Hikari visiting every week and making repairs."

Netto frowned. "That's not important right now…"

Meiru glowered at him. "But he hardly has any time between his work and maintaining the lab to see you or your mother anymore! And don't tell me it doesn't bother you because we both know that's a lie, Netto…!"

"Do you want us to save Roll or not?"

That shut her up.

"Good," he muttered, stabbing the keys into the ignition and revving the engine. "Then let's…let's just go."

They pulled out of the driveway and on to the main road in silence. Hiroshi waited for someone to start up a conversation, but when he realized that everyone was trying to avoid each other's gaze, he lapsed into thought.

_I…I hope Ironman's okay…I should never have tried to delete him. What the hell was I thinking? I just took one look at the JET and it was like I was hypnotized or something…_

Hiroshi looked out the window just as they were passing a couple of young children. They were each holding a JET and laughing amongst themselves…but there was one young boy who stood apart from them, looking bothered. Hiroshi strained in his seat to get a better look and just caught a glimpse at the PET protruding from his fanny pack.

Netto's PET started blinking.

"Meiru," he said, not taking his eyes off the road, "can you jack Rockman into the car? I'll have him show up on the main screen." As Netto said this, he pushed a button on the dashboard. A small screen flickered to life, and Rockman's worried face appeared.

"Netto-kun," he said, "I…I talked to Roll."

"How is she?" Meiru cut in, dominating the camera. "Rockman, did she talk to you…?"

Rockman looked deeply upset about something. "She did, but…she's in really bad shape. I could see that there was obvious damage to her memory data banks, though I'm not certain about the extent of it."

"Could she tell you anything?"

The Blue Bomber hesitated. "I…yes…" he admitted grudgingly. "From what I gathered by her story…and it was fragmented in places, but I got the impression that she was caught up in a fight between three JETs and a Net-Navi."

"Did the JETs do that to her?" Netto asked, looking sickened.

"No," said Rockman. "Roll said that the JETs had been deleted. It was the Net-Navi."

Everyone looked perturbed. Netto's Net-Navi wasn't sure whether or not he should tell him his last piece of news. But he knew that they would need to know as soon as possible. If Ironman were to attack someone else, and Rockman hadn't said anything, he would be the one responsible…at least, that was how Rockman saw it.

"Netto-kun," he began, "there's something else. Roll…she said she could remember some things about the Net-Navi who attacked her…"

"What are we looking for, then?" Netto asked.

Rockman sighed. "She identified him as being a tall Net-Navi, male, with grey eyes and a scar running along the bridge of his nose."

Hiroshi went rigid in his seat, and everyone's eyes went to him—except for Netto, who was obviously driving. Yuichi frowned and muttered something about dysfunctional Net-Navi's, causing his friend to turn a deep, remorseful shade of purple.

"I-Ironman…???"

"Yes," said Rockman apologetically. "At least, that is my assumption. I could be wrong, Hiroshi-kun."

"Quit sugar-coating it, Rockman," Netto snapped. "Was it or wasn't it Ironman who attacked Roll?"

"I couldn't be sure. Roll tried to show me a live video-feed before I contacted you, but I couldn't make anything out. I think she's taken damage there as well."

There was a long silence.

"So," said Netto resignedly, "I guess the only way we're going to get to the bottom of this is by fixing Roll."

Hiroshi tried, and failed, to swallow the lump in the back of his throat. His mouth had gone horribly dry.

"What have I done...?" he asked himself quietly.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so I got the chapter done, finally. And I know I'm a horrible person for not updating my other stories. Just keep in mind that I do have things going on outside of the computer screen, and that some things take priority over others. To my fans from other genres, the updates will be dealt with.**

**Anyway, we finally see what happened to Roll, and there are still many questions that need to be addressed. I will be revealing some of the finer points of the JET soon enough, and, even better, I came up with a way to fix that time lapse plot hole that one of my reviewers mentioned. Everything will be explained.**

**Nothing else to say except that I hope you liked, and to please review. Oh, and if you liked this, you should check out my deviantaccount. My deviant-name is Velvet--Red--Moon.**

**Blues: That's shameless self-promotion, and you know it, Watery.**

**Me: Yes. Yes it is.**

**Blues: Have you no shame?**

**Me: None whatsoever.**

**Blues: --Facepalms-- God help us all.**


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